[Bug 1183692] Re: Not enough disk space for kernel security update on /boot

[Rob Hills]

Agree with the above.  There should be a simple, foolproof-as-possible way to manage boot device free space.  I am currently trying to rescue my wife's computer from an incomplete 14.04LTS -> 16.04LTS upgrade that has failed near the end because it ran out of space on /boot.  THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN!
Maybe I should have known to check for adequate free space on /boot before doing an upgrade, but if I should have known that, so should the upgrader and it should have checked and warned me BEFORE STARTING the upgrade!

Ideally the upgrade process should offer the option of clearing out old
kernels (there were only 2 there apart from the one in use) before
proceeding.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1183692

Title:
  Not enough disk space for kernel security update on /boot

Status in update-manager package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Hi all

  I am using Ubuntu 12.10 and have just received the newest update
  notification from the update-manager marked as security updates. (This
  is NOT a release upgrade, but the regular security update)

  The update-manager tells me now that there is insufficient space on /boot to install these updates.
  The problem obviously is that too many kernels are installed: 3.5.0-17, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 30

  Which leaves 27MB space:
  Filesystem               Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
  /dev/sda1                228M  190M   27M  88% /boot

  Update Manager reports that it needs at least 33.2MB space for this
  update:

  "The upgrade needs a total of 33.2 M free space on disk '/boot'.
  Please free at least an additional 5,520 k of disk space on '/boot'.
  Empty your trash and remove temporary packages of former installations
  using 'sudo apt-get clean'."

  The hint in the message does not help for /boot.
  While I can fix this myself, I believe that this is not acceptable for an average end user to research and fix.
  Update-Manager should at least offer the option to remove old kernels (which it installed itself by security updates) in order for the security updates to proceed.

  
  I found an answer on AskUbuntu.com (http://askubuntu.com/questions/142926/cant-upgrade-due-to-low-disk-space-on-boot) which will help fix the issue. 

  TL;DR:

  -- 1 -- Release: 12.10
  -- 2 -- Installed Version of update-manager: 1:0.174.4
  -- 3 -- Expected:
  Security update should be installed. 
  -- 4 -- Happened:
  Failed because of insufficient disk space on /boot
  (Too many old kernels previously installed and not removed by update-manager)

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